All Too Complicated
by SilverWolf7007
Summary: Harry's lost his trust in Dumbledore, been kicked out of home, and moved in with a group of dead people. And to think that this is nothing compared to what the future has in store for him...eventual slash, insanity and ghosts.
1. Chapter the First

_**All Too Complicated**_

_By SilverWolf7007_

_**Chapter the First – In Which Harry Considers His Situation**_

_It's hard to say where or when it all started to change. There were many, many factors involved. But if I were pressed to give an answer, I would say that it was the summer after my fifth year. After Sirius died._

_You see, the death of my godfather shattered what little trust I had left in Dumbledore. I left Hogwarts that year, and I never planned to return._

_My friends had no idea, of course. Ron wouldn't have understood, and though I'm sure now that Ginny and Hermione would have done, I wasn't so certain at the time._

_Vernon and I were getting along as wonderfully as usual that summer, which pretty much meant I was confined to the house and yard, fed worse than a dog and used as slave labour. _

_And I, in my infinite wisdom (not to mention grief and anger) was spending the summer provoking him._

_Not long after things seemed to hit the fan, I looked back and decided that provoking him had _not_ been a good idea. I look back again now, and I know that it was the best thing that could have happened. _

_If I hadn't provoked Vernon, I would have never been able to find any information on magic schools that aren't Hogwarts, Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. _

_I suppose that in a way, I have him to thank for everything I know now. Hm, I wonder what he would think of that if I were to inform him. The man would probably die from horror. Interesting thought…_

_The point is, really, that my provoking of my dear uncle led to him kicking me out of the house. Left with nowhere to go, I was about ready to wander off and see if Voldemort would take me in._

_And that, boys and girls, is when I met my very first ghost. Well, sort-of ghost. Actually, Toni isn't a ghost at all, not in the traditional sense. It's…complicated._

_Yeah, complicated. The story of my life._

* * *

Harry wasn't sure what he was going to do.

He was sitting on his trunk only a few houses away from the Dursley residence, there were nine days until his sixteenth birthday, Hedwig was glaring at him and he had absolutely nowhere to go.

After three weeks of irritating one another, his uncle had finally decided that he'd had enough and kicked Harry out of the house.

Harry was finding it hard to be especially sad about this, but he had to admit that it was going to make his life a little difficult.

He had absolutely no intention of writing to Dumbledore, who was a shifty, manipulative old coot, or to the Weasleys, who would probably feel obligated to tell the aforementioned old coot.

In fact, that was pretty much the reason he couldn't write to _any_ of his friends – somehow, Dumbledore would find out. It was even possible that the Headmaster was monitoring his outgoing mail.

So Harry was stuck.

"Lost?" a sweet voice asked him.

Harry looked up from the road and found a pair of amber eyes mere centimetres from his own. They pulled back and he discovered that they belonged to a white-haired girl of about seven. "No, just a little…delayed. How about you?"

She smiled brightly. "Not lost at all! I know exactly where I am. I'm here!"

He couldn't help but grin back, especially when she gave a delighted little twirl. "Here and excited, I see."

"Yes, I am. My skirt is new!" She twirled again, showing off the ankle-length black skirt. "Isn't it pretty?"

"It's lovely. Do you live near here?"

She pointed to the house across the street. "Over there. Sort of. I stay with Corey a lot and he lives with Max and Brad and Rowan and Dana but I don't have to stay with them now you're here!"

Harry gave her a startled look. "I'm sorry?"

"Harry James Potter, my name is Toni, and I'm your spirit guide!"

Harry blinked. "You're my – what now?"

Toni giggled and sat down on the ground at his feet. "Your spirit guide. See, you are what is gen'rally called a Mediator. We don't know _why_ you're called that though, or anything. It's all…complicated," she pronounced it carefully, looking at him hopefully. He gave a small nod and she grinned. "Anyway a Mediator always gets a spirit guide."

"Wait, wait. What's a Mediator?"

She stared, eyes wide. "Oh! I practiced this bit so we knew you'd know what I meant! Corey said it was perfect!"

"Go on then," Harry prompted with a smile.

Toni took a deep breath, let it out in a rush, and began. "A Mediator is a living person who can speak to dead people, make spirits into temp'ry ghosts so other people can see 'em, travel in and through the spirit realm, and act as a go-between for a spirit and their friends or family – only you don't do that much."

"Okay, I'm going to save being all shocked and panicky until you've explained it all. Tell me more about spirit guides."

"Yay! I like this bit cos it's about me. Anyway, a Mediator has a spirit guide to help them with being a Mediator. Sometimes you'll need someone to back you up so you don't get kicked out of the spirit realm, since sometimes spirits can't recognise a Mediator."

"Are you all this…young?"

"Silly, of course not! Rowan's same age as Max, and he's her guide. But Dana is your age, and she's Brad's guide. And Corey's guide is a few years older. It's different for all Mediators, and all Mediators find out what they are and get their abilities at diff'rent ages too. I think I'm the youngest spirit guide in a while though."

"So…are you…you know…"

"Dead? Yep. I'll tell you more about that another time. Any more questions?"

"Just one more for now. Can other people see you?"

She tilted her head to the side. "That's kinda hard too. When there are people around, you can make it so they can see me. Even if you aren't there. Or you can make me be invisible to anyone who isn't a Mediator. But I'm not a ghost. And I'm solid." She poked his arm. "See?"

"I'm not sure," he said with a mock frown, before reaching over and messing her hair. "Ah, now I see," he laughed as she squealed. "Yep, definitely solid. So you're pretty much just a normal girl who is technically dead and can be invisible?"

"Yep! I can eat, and drink, and sleep…I'm all normal. Mostly."

Harry smiled softly. "Might be best if you keep staying with the people you've been staying with then. I don't exactly have a home right now."

Someone cleared their throat behind them. "You're welcome to stay with us."

They turned, startled. Harry took in the bright aqua eyes and sandy blond hair before smacking his forehead. "Duh, Harry. Kid says she's living with _Corey_. How many Coreys are there on Privet Drive?"

"One," Corey answered needlessly. "And that's me. It's been a while, Har."

He stood, grinning, and let the blond man pull him into a tight hug. "Missed you, Cor."

"You too, brat. Now pick up your trunk and get inside before I spank you."

Harry smirked as he grabbed his trunk and began to follow Corey and Toni inside. "Sorry Corey, I got over _that_ crush a long time ago."

Corey spun in surprise. "What crush? What?"

Laughing, Harry passed him and let Toni lead him into the house. "Didn't you know? You were my first crush."

Corey just gaped at him from the footpath.

* * *

_And this would be the rewrite of It's a Fact, Kid. I'm not especially fond of this new title either, but it's better – and more relevant – than the other. Updates on this are likely to be rather infrequent, somewhat like everything else I write, I guess, but I really wanted to get this up. _

_Not really sure what else I can say here. Holidays are good for writing in? Meh. _

_All right, I'll leave it here. Hope you liked, please review. _

_Oh, and if you read the original (which I can't help but hope you haven't, as I think it sucks), tell me if there's anything in particular that you either do or don't want to see in this. Can't guarantee I'll comply, but you never know._

_Love you all,_

_S. Wolf_


	2. Chapter the Second

_**All Too Complicated**_

_By SilverWolf7007_

**_Chapter the Second – In Which Harry Reminisces a Lot_**

_A long time ago, there was a little boy._

_Okay, so it wasn't _that_ long ago, in fact it was only a few years. _

_The point is, when I was a kid, Mrs Figg wasn't always available to baby-sit me when the Dursleys were going places. Plus I think Aunt Petunia began to suspect that the crazy old cat lady was a little 'odder' than most inhabitants of Little Whinging could guess at._

_So Aunt Petunia asked around for a competent, cheap baby-sitter._

_She found Corey._

_At the time, Corey wasn't a Mediator. He was, in fact, a fairly normal Muggle teenager. Well, I _thought_ he was. Turns out he was just learning his magic through correspondence courses with the Melbourne Academy of Magic, the only school that offered them._

_I was six, he was fourteen, and I'm fairly sure that I spent more of the next five years with him than with my 'family'. _

_And then I got accepted to Hogwarts. Corey had been like an older brother to me, and still is, so I was heartbroken to be leaving him. It hurt even more to be unable to tell him the truth about where I was going. _

_Corey, being virtually secluded from the magical community, hadn't heard much about the Boy Who Lived, so he certainly didn't realise that I was a celebrity in that world and thusly didn't realise that I was a wizard._

_I still saw him over the summer, of course. While I was at Hogwarts he was taking his later courses actually _at_ the MAoM. The MAoM, despite being in Australia, has the same holidays and term times as Hogwarts. No one is entirely sure why._

_When I was thirteen, Corey was twenty-one, graduated, and drop dead gorgeous. I hadn't realised I was gay until I realised that I was drooling over my 'big brother'. I'd well and truly gotten over it by the time I left the Dursleys that summer, but that was the last time I saw Corey until the day I met Toni._

_Turns out he was apprenticing at the MAoM as a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. At the very end of that year, he became a Mediator, and spent that summer learning about his skills. Over the next year he continued his apprenticeship, stayed at the school over the holidays and finished it up over the next year._

_The summer after that he came back to Britain to escape winter (he doesn't do cold well) and moved in with Maxine, Brad, Rowan and Dana._

_Of course, he took his spirit guide with him, and it wasn't long after I got settled that I met him. _

_Well, not exactly _met._ We had met before, after all._

* * *

"Max, Brad and Dana aren't here at the moment," Corey told him as they carried the trunk upstairs. "Rowan's gone shopping, so he wont be back for a bit yet."

Harry just nodded. They had just reached a door and stopped.

"This is your room. For the moment, you'll be sharing with Toni. She needs to bond to you – it's a spirit guide thing. Plus you're practically her brother now, so you get to take care of her."

Dropping his trunk, Harry raised an eyebrow. "Nice room. Very large."

Corey snorted, sweeping his gaze over the room. "Yeah, but we figure it's about necessary for you two. We've got one hyper little girl, and one teenager who used to be a hyper little boy."

Harry poked his tongue out and pushed his trunk to the bed with the black doona and sheets. He figured it was a safe bet, as the other sported a bright pink, purple, blue, green and yellow striped theme.

"My room's right across the hall, I share with Max's guide, Rowan. Max and Brad are next to me, and my guide is next to you guys with Dana on his other side."

He was about to ask for something about Corey's spirit guide, like his name, but was interrupted by Toni's excited voice.

"Cedric, Cedric I found my Mediator!"

Harry froze as he heard a familiar laugh and an even more familiar voice. "You found him, huh? Was he lost?"

"Nooo, but he's here now!"

"How about you introduce me to him?"

"Sure!"

Harry distantly noted the confusion on Corey's face, but couldn't even address it in his own mind, as Cedric Diggory had just been dragged into the room.

Cedric's eyes widened in shock. "_Harry_?"

"Cedric," he replied, swallowing. "So, you're a spirit guide now? How's that working out for you?"

"Uh, good. Yeah, it's great. I just…_really_ wasn't expecting to see you."

Harry snorted. "_You_ weren't expecting it? At least you knew it was, you know, _possible_."

"You guys know each other?" Corey said blankly.

Cedric raised an eyebrow. "I told you about Harry, remember? Guy who saved my life several times?"

"Got you killed, you mean," Harry muttered.

"No, I don't mean that," Cedric replied sharply. "Harry, it wasn't your goddamned fault! And neither was what happened to Sirius, by the way. I like to think we can blame both on Dumbledore and Voldemort."

"Wait…Harry, you're _that_ Harry?"

Harry sighed and turned to Corey, ignoring the growing lump in his throat. "Yeah, if you mean Harry Potter, Boy Who Lived and all. Always have been, always will be. Nothing I can do about that."

"Huh. We'll talk later. C'mon Toni, let's leave these two to catch up."

Toni pouted, but nodded. "You two will play with me later," she informed them.

Harry and Cedric shared an amused glance before nodding solemnly. Toni seemed satisfied as she left the room.

Cedric turned and raised an eyebrow at Harry. "So, have we covered the emotional and guilt aspects properly, or should we angst about it some more?" He paused and eyed the expression on Harry's face. "Ah. Right. I see. In that case, should I be running?"

"That will not be necessary, Cedric."

"Um, okay. Harry? Is something wrong?"

"Nothing at all, Cedric."

"Can I ask a question?"

"Go ahead, Cedric."

"Why do you keep saying my name in that creepy tone of voice?"

Harry gave an eerie smirk to go along with it. "Because it's unnerving you, Cedric."

"Of course. Could you, maybe, I dunno, quit it?"

"Maybe later, Cedric."

Cedric smacked his head on the nearest wall.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm just not sure how to handle this whole thing, you know?" Harry sighed and sat on his bed. Cedric sat across from him on Toni's. "I mean, the whole mess of guilt about you aside, apparently I'm a _Mediator_ now, and I don't know what that means for my future. And can you still use magic?"

Cedric blinked. "Wow, that was somewhat off the topic."

Harry shrugged. "What can I say; I've been cultivating my randomness."

"I think I'm worried."

"You probably should be. But I'm done ranting and being uncertain about my future for the moment, so you can go ahead and answer. I'm curious."

"Isn't that what gets you into all those tricky situations?"

Harry glared.

Cedric cleared his throat. "Right, yes. Okay. Magic. It's…well, I can use magic of a sort, but as I'm dead and not technically a wizard anymore, it isn't the same kind. Humans of any kind can become Spirit Guides, not just witches and wizards. Rowan, Max's guide, was a Muggle. We have certain abilities, as guides, mainly so we can try to keep our Mediators from getting themselves killed. Or turned into giant cauldrons."

"It was _once_!" Corey's voice snapped from outside the door.

Harry snickered. "I knew he was listening in. Can Muggles be Mediators?"

Cedric shook his head. "Apparently not. You have to have a certain amount of innate magic to be able to develop the ability. I know that a few Squibs have been Mediators in the past, but from what I've been told, all the current ones are witches or wizards."

"All right then. I think that's enough learning, angsting and feeling guilty for now. Why don't we let Corey participate in the conversation before abandoning him in favour of playing with Toni?"

Laughing, Cedric stood up. "Sounds perfect. You hungry?"

"Starved," Harry replied with a rueful grin. "Almost literally."

Cedric rolled his eyes. "Well Rowan will be home with food soon, but don't hold your breath on actually getting a decent meal. The only person alive or dead who both lives in this house and can cook is Brad."

Harry snorted and opened the door, 'accidentally' kicking Corey as he stepped from the room. "Don't worry; I think I can manage to cook something passable once I have food to work with."

Corey hopped a little and rubbed his shin, but disregarded the pain in favour of grinning in delight. "We're saved! Harry, I love you!"

"Me too!" Toni added from the top of the staircase. "Cos Corey, Rowan and Cedric can't even cook ice cream properly!"

Harry gave her a blank look. "You don't cook ice cream."

Toni nodded sagely. "Exactly."

* * *

_I honestly never thought I would finish this chapter. I got stuck about halfway several months ago. But now, here it is, all finished. _

_Hope you enjoyed it._

_Please review._

_Love Wolfie_


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